One Step at a Time
by Valoja
Summary: Getting to know the Assassin might not be the easiest thing to do, but at least it is worth the trouble. You don't care about the other fish in the sea, all you want to catch is that lonely shark. Reader x Altaïr. Song is by Jordin Sparks.
1. First Sight

**First Sight**

It was a normal day, just like any other day. Or so it seemed.

Though the sun was bright, like normally, it seemed as if dark clouds were slowly drifting in the direction of the city. Though you were home, there was an uneasy feeling you hadn't felt before resting in the pit of your stomach. Though the city was busy like every other day, the streets crowded with all different kinds of horrible people, there was an unfamiliar figure fully clad in white making his way through the street.

Being the believing, slightly superstitious woman you were, you thought that maybe God was giving you the opportunity to experience a great adventure. A chance given only once in a lifetime… Isn't that thought exciting?

And so you followed him.


	2. Introduction 1

**Introductions #1**

To your surprise, it was pretty difficult to follow him. As your mind wandered over the question of how he could manage to move so smoothly without seeming to run into anyone or knock anything over, you yourself stumbled over countless abandoned crates.

Your face turned as white as a sheet as he swiftly climbed towards the roofs, but your determination pushed your fright of height to the back of your mind as you clumsily climbed the building as well.

Not much later, he dropped himself back to the ground. Carefully peaking over the edge, gulping at the distance between the sand and yourself, you saw him talk to another man, who was also wearing a white robe with a white scarf covering half of his face.

As you weren't able to hear what they were talking about, you leaned further down. You froze once you heard the wooden construction under you creak dangerously and before you could react the beams gave way. For a moment you were offended at how it was telling you that you were too heavy, until you hit the ground with a wince.

You tried to stay as still as possible, hoping that if you did so they would somehow not notice you and go on with talking, but then the guy with the scarf opened his mouth.

"…do women normally fall through the roofs here?"


	3. Introduction 2

**Introduction #2**

"How could you, Altaïr, _the_ Altaïr, get followed by a woman?" scarf-guy almost had a heart attack. You glared at him, insulted at how he pictured you women. Though – what did he mean with '_the_ Altaïr'?

"I did not expect her to follow me after I started climbing," '_the_ Altaïr' said, not seeming very interested in all this.

"Wha- you knew I was following you?!" you gasped while taking a few steps away from the obviously dangerous group.

'_The_ Altaïr' stared at you. "It was hard not to, with all the noise you made," he deadpanned, adding to your insulted-ness. They were clearly mocking you!

"Why did you decide to follow me in the first place?" You looked up, shrugged and started to play with your fingers. Despite living in a place where everyone believed, you still felt uneasy when it came to stating your beliefs out loud. "I thought… God was giving me an opportunity to change my life…"

'_The_ Altaïr' sighed softly and turned towards you; he had always had a weak spot for people who believed for the better. "What's your name?"

A surprised smile broke out on your face, reminding Altaïr of sunrise.

"[F/N]!"


	4. Interaction

**Interaction**

It seemed as if ever since then, you happened to notice Altaïr around the city all the time. You'd always walk up to him and start a chat if he wasn't too busy with looking around sneakily or snooping around trying to get away from the streets unnoticed.

Today was one such day.

"Good morning, Altaïr! What's an Assassin like you doing around here early in the morning? I thought they were like owls, or hamsters, only coming out at night…" lucky for oblivious you, Altaïr had gotten used to your to-you-normal-to-him-insulting-words, so he merely stayed silent as he continued to watch the crowd.

You pouted at his lack of response, placing your hands on your hips as you glared at the Assassin, "Hey, if someone greets you, you have to greet them back!"

This only pulled even more silence from Altaïr and you gave up with a sigh, mentally throwing your arms up in the air. You hadn't expected him to reply, though that still didn't explain why your heart skipped a beat when you heard his words.

"…good morning to you too…"


	5. Attraction

**Attraction**

At first, you thought your heart had gone wild back then because you had managed to book progress with Altaïr's social skills, but later you realized you were wrong. Ever since that day, the thought of the silent Assassin popped up more often and whenever it did, you would feel empty at the following thought; _he isn't here right now_. And whenever you saw him, a funny warmth would spread out inside of you, like a tickling flame.

It didn't take long for you to realize you were in love with him.

Though you never did find out how exactly you could fall for someone as quiet and anti-social as him…


	6. Date

**Date**

After calming down from the realization that you were in love with Altaïr, you did your best to avoid him.

Why? Because you'd be far too embarrassed, and knowing yourself, you'd somehow manage to blurt it out, making the whole situation even worse.

The thought of the Assassin returning those feelings had occurred to you, but you dismissed it as impossible. You wondered if the word 'love' even existed in his dictionary.

And, unbeknownst to you, Altaïr actually noticed your sudden absence. He noticed how you were never lurking around the corner, like you used to, ready to attack him with a hug.

And the silence! The silence Altaïr thought he had missed, but loathed right now.

It was like he had gotten used to you being around, and something inside of him liked you better than the silence; and so it wasn't planning on letting go of you anytime soon.

It seemed like years later, when Altaïr spotted you, looking around cautiously while sneaking around. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noted how the roles had been reversed.

Just when you were about to walk away, Altaïr sprinted towards you and grabbed your wrist, causing you to look up in surprise and shock.

"Come, let's walk!" he yelled above the noise of people trying to do some shopping. It wasn't like you had a choice; he was already pulling you away with him. But this was technically a date. Of course you wouldn't refuse!


	7. Holding Hands

**Holding Hands**

The minutes that passed as he led you away from the crowd towards a calmer place were like paradise to you; the absence of his ring finger didn't bother you in the slightest. You noted how rough and cold his hands were and how they seemed quite big compared to yours.

It didn't take long before your feet touched the ground again and you remembered that you had been avoiding him for the past few days, which was the reason why his hand was now holding yours. Just to remind you of why you had been avoiding him, butterflies started flying around in your stomach and you resisted the need to squeal.

Mentally shaking your head, you tightened your grip on his hand as you prepared yourself for when you were going to have to tell him why you hadn't been acting like normal around him.

You weren't going to let go of him now. Not anymore.


	8. First Kiss

**First Kiss**

So busy with your own thoughts, you didn't see Altaïr stopping and bumped into him. In a reflex, you took a step back, automatically pulling your hand back and shivering once at the sudden coldness that seemed to wash over it, up your arm and into the rest of your body.

Altaïr turned around and stared at you, waiting for an answer, but he wouldn't be getting one for innocent you couldn't feel the obvious question in the air.

When Altaïr realized this, he let out a small sigh which confused you even more. Had you done something wrong?

"Why have you been avoiding me?" a light bulb appeared above your head as you suddenly understood his staring and waiting. With a grimace, Altaïr reached up to grab it and smashed it against the wall standing behind you.

You nervously played with your fingers as you thought of what you were going to tell him; there was no way he was going to let you get away without answering him first.

"Well… I could hold a whole speech here to kill time, but I guess I could just tell you with this…" without thinking, you moved his hood out of the way as you pressed your hands on his cheeks.

Balancing yourself on your toes, you managed to press your lips against his. You had never thought that hearing, no, _feeling_ his breathing hitch would make you feel so good.

What seemed like an eternity later, you let go of his lips and stared directly in his eyes that, for once, showed an emotion: surprise. "Do you understand now?"


	9. Relationship

**Relationship**

Standing there in silence, neither of you said anything, not daring to interrupt the moment. You weren't sure what he was thinking, he wasn't sure what you were thinking.

And for the first time in his whole life, Altaïr couldn't care less about consequences.

He leaned in and captured your lips with a soft kiss of his own.


	10. Love

**Love**

Now, about your relationship, there was one thing you hadn't thought about when you started this whole thing.

Those Godforsaken, damnable, stupid cave- err, your parents.

The moment you stepped through the door of your house with Altaïr, your whole family was standing there in excitement.

There were two main responses: your mother and younger sister squealed in delight but you weren't sure if it was because they were happy you had found a boyfriend or because they thought said boyfriend was handsome, or whatever.

Your father and two older brothers, however, went to have a glaring contest with Altaïr and he seemed eager to win. It was pretty unfair, seeing as how he had much more practice with it and ended up winning. But that didn't mean they had given up.

At the end of the day, the two of you stood outside, Altaïr getting ready to depart.

"Your family is…different," he admitted, trying to keep it as less painful as possible for you. You started to feel uncomfortable, wondering if he was going to break up with you now.

"But I love you nevertheless."

And as the two of you quickly kissed each other goodbye, you mentally noted that this was the first time he had said that he loved you.


	11. Commitment

**Commitment**

It was probably midnight by now, but you still couldn't sleep through the heat, though you didn't seem to be the only one.

A cry filled the air and for once, you gratefully stood up and walked over to the crib on the other side of the room. Picking up the baby boy, you pressed your lips against his forehead before cradling him to your chest and humming a tune to him.

"I know, I know, I miss daddy too, but he'll be back soon," you murmured and rubbed the boy's back as his cries gradually died down after a few minutes.

Altaïr and you never married, for he feared that his targets might find out about you and your children — three in total — and use you against him. It might seem a bit selfish, but you knew he was doing it to protect you.


End file.
